Colours for 60 Vette resto

[James S.]

Gents and Ladies,

I thank the forum for past e3xpertise for this survivor Vette. I have bought the Corvette resto guide book that covers the 60 Vette, the factory service manual, etc., and none of them indicate the correct colors for components. Take for instance the oil filter canister, the 4 speed shift rods, bolt coatings, like black anodize for certain components. I have about 200 dollars invested in those books, and yet no discussion or list of what the colors should be. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Goatster

[Gary C.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

In your library you should have the Judging Reference Manual and 58-60 CD-ROM with all of the Restorer articles both of which are available from the NCRS store on this website. Also, Noland Adams C1 book is a good reference. Gary....

[Howard M.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

The Corvette Restorer volume twenty-eight, number three, winter 2002 will give you most of the information you're looking for. I used this data for my '60 rebuild as well.

[Stewart A.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Yes I agree there is a lot of gaps in these books. I suppose it's hard to explain the entire car for there is an overkill of different parts on a car and some of the same model cars have different h.p. ratings so they have also different parts that are different colours. It just goes to show you that there is a lot of parts in a car hence the build time of a great restoration. Still I think the books miss a lot of detail. I live in Australia and I can't just pop around to bob's who has a top flight car to check his detail in the engine bay or under the chassis to compare.

[James S.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Yes I agree there is a lot of gaps in these books. I suppose it's hard to explain the entire car for there is an overkill of different parts on a car and some of the same model cars have different h.p. ratings so they have also different parts that are different colours. It just goes to show you that there is a lot of parts in a car hence the build time of a great restoration. Still I think the books miss a lot of detail. I live in Australia and I can't just pop around to bob's who has a top flight car to check his detail in the engine bay or under the chassis to compare.

Stewart,

Thanks. Yes, the books are full of information, but lacking in detail for a complete how to guide with part colours. Somebody could make a bunch of $$$ if they took their restos that won Bloomington Gold and wrote a book, but my experience with most restoration shops is that they don't want to give up any advice; it's all about one upsmanship. Thank goodness for this forum. I enjoy sharing resto techiniques.

Goatster

[James S.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Yes I agree there is a lot of gaps in these books. I suppose it's hard to explain the entire car for there is an overkill of different parts on a car and some of the same model cars have different h.p. ratings so they have also different parts that are different colours. It just goes to show you that there is a lot of parts in a car hence the build time of a great restoration. Still I think the books miss a lot of detail. I live in Australia and I can't just pop around to bob's who has a top flight car to check his detail in the engine bay or under the chassis to compare.

Stewart,

Any vegamine sandwiches for us blokes in USA? I spent 30 years in the Marine Corps and have trained with the Aussies, and visited your Embassy in Washington DC; what a treat that is.

See some pics of the resto work on this Vette owned by a General in the USAF who willed it to his daughter.

Goatster

[James S.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Resto pics

[Mark P.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

I am planning a restoration of my 1960 and would like to put together detailed documentation to allow others to reuse this info. One of the items will be an Excel spreadsheet with all fasteners and will have head markings, AIM references, thread size, lenth and finish that can be easily sorted to help get bolts back in the right bags after plating. There are a number of others that are doing restorations of 59-60 cars so we could pool our information. If anyone wants to PM me I can start centralizing the info.

[Richard B.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Mark,
I have already compiled a great deal of this information and will gladly share it with you. I wrote the article mentioned by Howard earlier in this thread, and I have accumulated and documentated the Head Markings used in Solid Axle's, with an emphasis on the 58-60 cars.

I will be giving a overview of my findings at the WACO Regional in a couple of weeks, so if you are in the area I will be glad to share whatever I have on this topic.

Richard

[Jack H.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

"Still I think the books miss a lot of detail. I live in Australia and I can't just pop around to bob's who has a top flight car to check his detail in the engine bay or under the chassis to compare."

The books DO miss a lot of detail because they're 'guides' and not ALGORITHMS rifle shot at how to properly restore your specific car WITHOUT a single judging point deduction! While there's a lot of science to the sport/hobby, there's also a degree of art to it that requires reaching out, questioning, looking, and researching.

On being Australian and not being able to 'pop over' to Bob's for a looksee...HOG WASH!

NCRS is alive, well and growing in Australia. There ARE Top Flight cars there to be seen with owners to talk to and fellow members to consult with.

I've made the journey down under twice (at my expense) to help the Chapter move along/down the learning curve and I've arm twisted 10-20 other Stateside owner/judges to come along for the ride and share their time/experience with our Aussie friends.

What you're looking for (a complete cook book of how to do this/that specific car) doesn't exist and has never existed. After the job is done, the car is running and the ribbon/award is on the wall, it's the JOURNEY you'll remember along with the challenge of sweating the details and, more importantly, the PEOPLE you meet and friendships you make along the way...

[James S.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

"Still I think the books miss a lot of detail. I live in Australia and I can't just pop around to bob's who has a top flight car to check his detail in the engine bay or under the chassis to compare."

The books DO miss a lot of detail because they're 'guides' and not ALGORITHMS rifle shot at how to properly restore your specific car WITHOUT a single judging point deduction! While there's a lot of science to the sport/hobby, there's also a degree of art to it that requires reaching out, questioning, looking, and researching.

On being Australian and not being able to 'pop over' to Bob's for a looksee...HOG WASH!

NCRS is alive, well and growing in Australia. There ARE Top Flight cars there to be seen with owners to talk to and fellow members to consult with.

I've made the journey down under twice (at my expense) to help the Chapter move along/down the learning curve and I've arm twisted 10-20 other Stateside owner/judges to come along for the ride and share their time/experience with our Aussie friends.

What you're looking for (a complete cook book of how to do this/that specific car) doesn't exist and has never existed. After the job is done, the car is running and the ribbon/award is on the wall, it's the JOURNEY you'll remember along with the challenge of sweating the details and, more importantly, the PEOPLE you meet and friendships you make along the way...

Jack,

You are absolutely right, and I have had many journeys (first one for a client's Vette however)! I've already spent over $200.00 on the books that were recommended, but they all fell short of what I need to conduct a thorough factory specification mild restoration of this survivor Vette. Not only with component colours, but with simple items like torque specifications. Take for instance the flywheel bolts, the bell housing bolts, the pressure plate bolts, carb nuts, etc., the service manual, nor the #1 Vette restoration manual (that everyone recommends) has a complete list of torque specifications. I have been using torque specs from later model year Chevy service manuals that list every torque spec; they have to be close.

Anyways, any help with the following part's colours will help.

Thanks in advance.

Goatster

1. 4 speed transmission shift linkage
2. Bell housing and bolts (I read that it is painted partially orange, how much coverage though)
3. Exhaust manifolds and bolts

[James S.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Here's a pic of the car prior to a thorough cleaning. I had just removed the engine, trans, etc.

[Mark P.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

James - here is a picture of an original 1963 engine and bellhousing. I was planning to paint my bellhousing like this and paint the first 3-4 inches or so all the way around and have it be darker near the engine and fade it as you get away from the engine.

Can anyone comment if this would not be a good picture to use.

Mark

[James S.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

James - here is a picture of an original 1963 engine and bellhousing. I was planning to paint my bellhousing like this and paint the first 3-4 inches or so all the way around and have it be darker near the engine and fade it as you get away from the engine.

Can anyone comment if this would not be a good picture to use.

Mark

Thanks Mark! This helps immensely.

[Jack H.]

Re: Colours for 60 Vette resto

Like I said, there's no difinitive publication that tells you how to take this particular car and restore it without a mistake the first time through. We learn by doing. Understanding how the cars were originally built helps a BUNCH...

For instance the basic engine shipped from Flint, Michigan while the transmission shipped from Muncie, Indiana. At St. Louis, the different assy's were pulled from inventory, assembled and installed in the car. If you see a part called out in the Assy Instruction Manual, you can pretty safely bet it was installed on the final line and therefore couldn't see the Chevy Orange paint used in Flint...

Let's look at your individual questions.

1. 4 speed transmission shift linkage

Installed at St. Louis to connect the 'box' assy. Therefore, not painted (engine/exterior) with parts left as shipped from the supplier...

2. Bell housing and bolts (I read that it is painted partially orange, how much coverage though)

The bell housing was on the engine when it went through painting at the Flint engine plant. Coverage varied based on how aggressive that painter was that day + whether or not a QA/QC supervisor was looking over his shoulder while he worked.

Effectively, engines ROARED down these assy lines with something like 2-minutes each allocated for the painting process. Yep, they were SLOPPY in paint workmanship and paint coverage varied WILDLY from unit to unit.

3. Exhaust manifolds and bolts

These were on the engine at Flint when it went through the painting process and your copy of the NCRS Judging Guide tells you they were painted Chevy orange. Again, coverage varied pretty dramatically like other engine painted items go...